One Year
by Aentiaa
Summary: Edward thought he was going to be fine and that he could finally live a happily life, that was until he found out he only had one year to live. However, Edward has decided to keep he has long left a secret, even from his own family! Between his lifespan, the return of his missing father and a budding romance between him and Winry it's going to be one tough year.


One Year

Chapter 1: It Was All Going So Well

* * *

He pulled tightly on his dark blue tie that hung loosely around his neck. The aforementioned pull caused the tie to tighten around his neck and pull the collar of his white short-sleeved business shirt closer together. It had been an incredibly long length of time since the young man had worn such a garment. So long in fact that it felt like the tie was choking him as it lay more than snugly around his neck. He took his attention away from just his tie and instead focused on his whole attire in general. He studied himself in the mirror whilst he ran his hands along his long grey pants to get rid of any creases.

He knew today was the day he had been planning and waiting for. All of those hours spent recovering and buying books was all for this moment. He felt a small smile tug at his lips as he thought of all the turmoil he had overcome to get to this point. It had been a rocky journey but surviving it, so far, made a slight feeling of accomplishment well up inside of him. It wasn't very often he felt this emotion so he decided to savour its glory as he grabbed a hair tie and a small elastic from the wooden dressing table in front of him. He shifted his golden tresses to one side of his head and plaited his hair with his bangs left out.

Now happy with the way his hair was done, he looked at himself one more time before exiting his bedroom. As he walked out into the hallway, he was greeted by the familiar smell of home cooking. Bacon and eggs being cooked in the kitchen below to be exact. He smiled greedily at the prospect of such a wonderful breakfast and increased his pace as he headed down the long flight of stairs to the kitchen.

"Good morning brother" greeted his little brother, Alphonse, as he sat at the long dark wooden table opposite the black granite bench tops of the kitchen area. Alphonse had a smile plastered onto his face due to mixture of happiness and excitement that was filling his mind. Just seeing his brother in a school uniform was even enough to make him feel elated.

"Good morning Al, how do you like my sexy uniform?" he joked with a mock wink and pose. Alphonse giggled lightly in response.

"If there's anything you're not it's sexy, Edward" stated Roy Mustang, Edward's adopted father, as he placed a calloused hand, caused by weeding the garden early the morning before, and ruffling the boy's golden hair. Edward flailed his arms in the air in protest.

"Don't touch my hair!" he yelled. Roy laughed and released the boy's hair from underneath his hand.

"I guess I should just be happy you're energetic. When I was a kid I always hated going to school" reminisced Roy. Edward took a seat beside Alphonse and Roy opposite him.

"You're starting to sound like an old man" teased Edward.

"At least I'm not short like one" retorted Roy with a grin. Edward gritted his teeth and was about to respond when the familiar _click _of a gun could be heard causing everyone in the room to go quiet.

"If you two don't stop fighting soon I might have to take action" stated Riza blankly as she stood in front of the stove, gun in one hand and spatula in the other. Edward was sure that this was illegal, threatening your children and husband with a gun. He was sure it violated some child protection law, in fact, he was sure it violated several.

"Now that you're all quiet I guess I'll give you breakfast" stated Riza with a smile as she placed the gun onto the bench top. A collective sigh could be heard from both Roy and Edward who were sure one day they would get a bullet to the head. Riza served up the eggs and bacon onto four large plates and carried them over to the table. She placed the plates in front of her other family members and finally put one in front of herself after she took a seat next to her husband.

"Thank you for breakfast mum!" exclaimed Alphonse as he eyed off the delicious meal in front of him.

"No worries Alphonse" replied Riza. After Roy and Edward also thanked the chef of the family they continued to eat their breakfast. They chatted to each other idly like they did most mornings with smiles spread across their faces. After carrying out the usual morning routine like brushing their teeth the family unit was ready to go out for the day.

From afar this family may seem incredibly normal, aside from the gun slinging mother that is. However, this family was born from drama and tragedy which was part of the reason they would never split.

* * *

"Good morning!" she called happily. As soon as Edward and Alphonse stepped out of their car they were greeted by those words. The oldest brother felt his heart skip a beat as he heard that familiar voice. It was the voice of the person who had saved his life, Winry Rockbell. Her long blonde hair was tied into a ponytail that fell gracefully onto her back. She wore the female version of Edward and Alphonse's school uniform which consisted of a blue skirt, black tights, a white business shirt and a tie. She waved at the brother enthusiastically; she knew how important this day was.

"Good morning Winry!" called Alphonse happily. Edward simply smiled and waved at his friend from afar before he and his brother walked up to her.

"Wow, that uniform suits you really well Ed!" complimented Winry. Edward blushed ever so slightly and muttered a 'thanks' in response. Alphonse smirked to himself knowingly at Edward's expression.

"Are you excited for your first day back Ed?" asked Winry.

"I guess so, I'm sort of nervous though" replied Edward.

"It's not that bad, trust me. Remember, if you feel sick you have to let me know. And if you don't I'll hit you with one of my wrenches!" threatened Winry. Edward cringed at the memory of failing to mention feeling ill once and ending up with a large bruise on the side of his head due to a blow from a wrench.

"Yeah yeah, I will" replied Edward half-heartedly.

"Anyway, why don't we go and show Edward where his locker is?" suggested Alphonse.

"Good idea Al!" stated Winry. The trio began to walk up into the school and to where Edward's locker would be. All the while Edward could only think of what he was going to do now. Many months ago, when he was lying in bed about to die, he wrote a letter for the people he would leave behind. He wrote a special section for Winry of course, she was the one who dedicated one week of her life, which was supposed to be the last week of Edward's life, with him and make him enjoy life after all. He had written that he loved her but after he recovered it was never mentioned again. Did it mean she didn't love him back?

"So here's where your locker will be" explained Winry. Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts and back into reality. The reality in which he had to pretend her never confessed to his love to the blonde.

"Oh, okay" commented Edward. The rest of the school day went by relatively fast. Edward managed to make some friends with some of the other students. In particular a black haired boy by the name of Ling who he sat with in almost every class. It turns out he even had one class where his adopted mother was the teacher which was both terrifying and good. He also found out Alphonse had a thing going on with Ling's cousin Mei. Ling and him decided to hide in the bushes and watch them for a while until they were caught and berated by Ling's friend Lan Fan.

Overall he enjoyed it. However, after school was something he was dreading for one simple reason. It would be the night he was meeting with his doctor to discuss his health. It was true Edward had made a substantial recovery but he still had underlying health problems that could be fatal if left untreated. That was why he found himself sitting on a plush blue chair opposite his doctor's desk.

"Now Edward, I have the results of your tests here. And, to be honest, they aren't good" reported the doctor behind his thin-rimmed glasses.

"What do you mean?" asked Edward as he bit his lip. The doctor sighed deeply and spread the sheets across the desk so Edward could see them.

"As you can see you are still not in the best shape. Because of this another operation will need to be performed" explained the doctor. That didn't sound too bad, so why did the doctor sound like he wasn't finished?

"However, this surgery has a very low success rate. The longest we can put it off is one year. Any longer that and you will most likely die" explained the doctor. It was amazing how blunt some people can be about such sensitive matters.

And then Edward made a decision at that moment, that he would tell no one about how long he most likely had left.

* * *

Author's Note:

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is a sequel to another fic. You can read it without reading the other but it will probably make a LOT more sense if you do!**

Anyway, with that over I guess I'll get onto the actual author's note. I couldn't help myself, I just keep shortening Ed's life. It was actually a spur of the moment decision. This was originally called 'One Eternity' and then I was like nope :D Thank you for reading :D


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